Adjustable fulcrum pliers



June 26, 1951 J. N. JOHNSON ADJUSTABLE FULCRUM PLIERS Filed April 22,1947 INVENTOR.

JOSEPH N. JOHNSON BY AT TORNEYS Patented June 26, 1951 ADJUSTABLEFULCRUM PLIERS Joseph N. Johnson, Oakland, Calif. Application April 22,1947, Serial No. 743,002-

An object of my invention is to provide a plier wrench which is animprovement over the wrench shown in my Patent No. 1,866,771, issuedJuly 12, 1932. In the patent Ishow a wrench that can be used as a pipewrench, monkey wrench or pliers due to the fact that one of the jaws hastwo straight object-gripping edges reentrantly inclined to each otherand the other jaw has a convex cam-shaped edge. The cam edge cooperateswith the re-entrantly inclined edges so that the wrench will have atendency to bind more tightly upon a nut or other object as morepressure is applied to the object for rotating it. It is not necessaryto grip the two handles of the wrench more firmly as greater force isused for rotating the object, as is the case with the usual pliers. Thecam will automatically cause the handles to tend to swing together asmore force is applied to rotate the object.

In the present invention, the jaw provided with the straight edgesre-entrantly inclined, has an outer straight gripping edge that makes anobtuse angle with the adjacent straight edge. The other jaw has anabutment positioned at the outer end of the cam-edge and the abutmenthas an edge making an obtuse angle with the cam edge and an outerstraight gripping edge that cooperates with the outer straight grippingedge of the first jaw for gripping an object therebetween. There-entrant edges on the one jaw and the abutment on the other providingsufficient space between the jaws and in back of the outer straightgripping edges to provide space for receiving a projection of the objectgripped, such as the head of a cotter pin.

A further object of my invention is toprovide a plier wrench that hasnovel means for quick adjustment for spreading the jaws to grip objectsof various sizes. The quick adjusting means is designed to maintain thejaws in the same relative positions regardless of the adjustment, theonly change being the greater or less spacing of the jaws one from theother.

A Wire cutting means is incorporated in the plier wrench and there-entrant edges cooperate with the cam edge for guiding the wire intothe wire-receiving recesses. The plier wrench is sturdy and simple inconstruction.

Other objects and advantages will appear in the following specification,and the novel features of the device will be particularly pointed out inthe appended claims.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings forming a partof this application, in which:

3 Claims. (Cl. 81-513) Figure 1 is a side elevation of the plier wrenchshowing the jaws gripping a hexagon nut;

Figure 2 is a transverse section taken along the line IIII of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a side elevation of the jaws of the plier wrench showingthem in a spread position for gripping a larger square nut;

Figure 4 illustrates the jaws gripping a cy lindrical object; Figure 5illustrates the jaws gripping a cotter pin with sufficient space beingprovided forjreceiving the, cotter pin head; Figure 6 is an enlargedview of thejaws show-. ing the wire cutting means; and

Figure 7 is a greatly enlarged view illustrating the severing of a wireby the wire cutting means;

While I have shown only the preferred form of my invention, it should beunderstood that various changes or modifications may be made within thescope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit and scopeof the invention.

In carrying out my invention, I provide a plier wrench that has twohandles A and B. The handle A has a straight shank portion Al with astraight edge I and a slot 2 paralleling this edge. The slot has spacednotches 2a extending along the side disposed nearest the straight edge IFigure 2 shows the handle B carrying the shank 3 of a pivot bolt C thatpivotally connects the handles A and B together. The bolt shank 3 isrigidly secured to the handle 13 and is rotatably and slidably receivedin the slot 2. Fig ure 6 shows the bolt shank 3 provided with opposedflattened sides 311 that are disposed a suificient distance apart topermit the shank to he slid along the slot 2 when the handle B is openedwith respect to the handle A for bringing one of the fiat sides 311 intosliding contact with the straight edge 2b of the slot.

A four place slip joint is provided for the pivoting of the handles Aand B by the bolt C and notched slot 2. In Figure 6 the bolt shank 3 hasbeen rotated in the slot 2 for causing one of its two opposed arcuatesides 3b to contact the straight side 2b of the slot and the otherarcuate side 31) to enter the adjacent notch or recess 2a.

The bolt shank in this position cannot he slid.

along the slot 2 and the two handles A and B are pivotally connectedtogether at the desired place along the slot. There are four notches 2aand therefore four positions into which the bolt C can be moved. Thebolt has a head 4 at one end. A disc 5 is mounted on the bolt at theother end and is held in place by upsetting the projecting end of thebolt as shown at 6. The twohandles are permanently locked together bythis arrangement.

The handle A carries an integral jaw D while the handle B carries anintegral jaw E. The jaw D extends at an angle to the straight edge I ofthe handle shank Al. Two straight object gripping edges I and 8 areformed on the jaw D and are re-entrantly inclined with respect to eachother. The edge I has teeth. la whilev the edge 8 is: preferably smooth.In addition to these two re-entrantly inclined edges, I provide an outeredge 9 that makes an obtuse angle with;

the toothed edge 1. The outer edge. 9. is also. provided withobject-gripping teeth 9a, but'these are preferably smaller in sizethantheteethlw...

The jaw E extends beyond the straight, edge I of the handle shank Alabout the same distance as the jaw D. A convex cam edge," [0. isprovided on the jaw Di and it cooperates with the re-entrantlyinclined'edges. ina mannerher-einaft'er described. The cam. edge [0. extends atan obtuse angle to. the handle B and it. has teeth Illa of substantiallythe same size as the. teeth la. An abutment. El is positioned. at theouter end of the cam edge lllliand this. abutment has an inner smoothedge ILII making an obtuse angle with the cam edge III andan outertoothed edge 12 making an obtuse angle with thesmootlr edge. H. The.teeth lZd enthe outer abutment edge. [2 are preferably of the same sizeasthe teeth 9a and the two objectegri'pping, edges 9 and, I2 are of.about the same length. Before describing the operation. of, the. plier.wrenchit is best. to set. forth. the structure of the wire cutter..

The wire cutter. i shown. in Figure 6 andin enlarged detail inFigure 7The straight edge II has a U-shaped. wire-receiving. recess t3 thereinwith opposededges- One ofthe opposed edges. l-3a.. merges into. the.edge 8 and constie tutes one of the wire-severin edges. A. coopcratingwire-receiving U.-shaped-. recess l3 at the base of the. jaw Elhas.opposed edge with the edge Ma constituting a. wireecutting edge andmerging into. the cam. edge l0. Figure 6 shows a. wire F received in therecesses. l3. and M. The handles AandB have been. moved toward eachother for moving,- the. cutting edges 1.30.- and I la into engagementwith the wire.

It willbe noted fromFigure-"I that as the cutting edges l.3a and. Ma.are: moved toward each other, the outer ends of these edges will passeachother. before the inner ends. This results in. the wire being.forced to the bottoms of the:

recesses [3 and. HIv duringthe. severing thereof". There will be no.tendency for the. wire to be forced. out. of the. recesses, but ratherthe wedging. action of the. edges Mia and Ma, as they are swung abouttheir commonpivot bolt C will be to trap the wirev and. force it towardthe bottoms of the recesses. A.better cutting. of: the wire. results.

Furthermore it. will be seen thatv the wire can' be fedinto theregistering. recesses I3 and I4 very easily. The re-entrant edge 8 ofthejaw'D- and the camedge H] of the jaw E guide the wire into the.aligned recesses because the edge 8 merges into. the recess edge I3a andthe camedge HI merges into the recess edge I 4a.

The abutment EI- permits the plier to ratchet on a nut without pullingloose. The abutment acting as a ratcheting retainer tends to hold thepl-ier on the nut during the ratching movement and the'edge 9:01.- thejaw- D actsas an escapement edgecooperating with the edge 1:2 of-i'th'eabutment to permit easy entry and exit for the work entering or leavingthe jaw. The inclined edge ll of the abutment forms one of the workingfaces that engages with a face of a hexagon nut, see Figure 1. I do notwish to be confined to any definite number of notches 2a in the slot 2.I have shown four notches although these may be increased to five orreduced to less than four if desired.

In. operating the device, the straight edge 1 of the jaw D is consideredthe stationary edge and the convex cam edge [0 of the swingable jaw E isconsidered the movable cam-shaped edge. The second and third pivotpositions shown in; Figures 1 and 3 are the ones most commonly used, A ihex'nut is gripped by the pliers in Figurel and a square nut is grippedin. FigureB. In Figures 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6, I show a dot dash line lbcoinciding with the straight edge 1 and extending to the. right of the.edge. I also show another dot dash line 20. extending, through thecenterv of the bolt 4 and paralleling the edge 21 of the slot 2. Thesetwo lines intersect and make an acute angle which is in.- dicated at a.It will also be seen that the convex cam edge l9 extends almost at rightangles to the line 20 when gripping an object.

It willv be seen from Figures 1,v 3v and v4, that the convex cam edge Inis. substantially parallel to the straight edge 1 when the. two. jawedges are in object gripping position. The. con-- vex edge ID willremain substantially the same distance away from the line 20 for allfour ad'- justments of .thepivot, bolt C and therefore, the. jaws cangrip larger objects as readily as smaller ones. Inasmuch as the convexcam edge H1 makes an obtuse angles with the, length of the handle B. theedge ID will create a camming. action on the object gripped as thehandle. 13- is swung toward thehandle A and willtend to. wedge theobject against, the straight edge 1, to create a vice like grip on. theobject.

Iclaim:

1. A plier wrench having two handles with pivot means. therebetweenadjustable along a. predetermined line; an upper jaw integral with: onehandle; a lower jaw integral with the. other handle; the jaws projectinglaterally from their respective handles, with one jaw overlying the.other; the upper jaw havin inner and outer. straight edges reentrantlyinclined. relative toone another and so arranged that. a line coincidingwith the outer reentrant edge will forman acute angle with the linealong which. the pivot means is adjustable; the lowerjaw having a convexcam-shaped edge so arranged that. a line passing through. the. ends.thereof will make an obtuse angle with its handle, and an abutmentdisposed at the outer end of this edge and projecting toward theupperjaw; the outer reentrant. grippin edge of the upper jaw being disposedsubstantially parallel to and mating with the convex cam-shaped edge ofthe lower jaw regardless of the position that the pivot means occupiesalong the pivotmeans adjusting line, and while the handles aremaintained in a relation with respect to each other for causin the jawsto grip anobject.

2. A wrench having two jaws adjustablypivoted together and each havingan integral handle; the upper jaw having inner, middle and outerstraight edges; the inner and middle edges bein reentrantl'y inclinedwith respect to each other and the outer edge making an obtuse anglewith the middle edge and constituting an 5 escapement edge for an objectbeing gripped; the lower jaw having a convex cam edge so arranged that aline passing through the ends thereof will make an obtuse angle with itshandle, the lower jaw havin a ratcheting retainer disposed at the outerend of the cam edge; the ratching retainer having an edge whichapproximately parallels the escapement edge on the upper jaw when thetwo laws are in ratcheting position and which thereby pro- 10 vides easyentry and exit for work entering or leaving the jaws when the jaws areopened a slight distance beyond ratchetin position.

3. A wrench having two jaws adjustably pivoted together along apredetermined line and each having an integral handle; the upper jawhaving inner, middle and outer straight edges; the inner and middleedges being reentrantly inclined and the outer edge extendinapproximately at right angles to the predetermined line of adjustment;the lower jaw having a main curved edge so arranged that a line passingthrough the ends thereof will make an obtuse angle with its handle, thelower jaw havin an outer edge substantially paralleling the outer 6 edgeof the upper jaw when the middle straight edge of the upper jawapproximately parallels a line passing through the ends of the curvededge of the lower jaw.

JOSEPH N. JOHNSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,050,683 Overlander Jan. 14,1913 1,283,217 Kurtzhals Oct. 29, 1918 1,577,155 Anderson Mar. 16, 19261,678,313 Atkinson July 24, 1928 1,800,447 Froeschl Apr. 14, 19311,950,362 Manning Mar. 6, 1934 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date839,175 France Dec. 26, 1938 99,868 Sweden Sept. 17, 1940 573,204 GreatBritain Nov. 12, 1945

